Cardinals Draft: Need or Big Board?

By ericgoodman

For the Cardinals, the draft brains normally will rely on their big board and how players fall to them. They will take their highest rated player, unless of course they have a glaring need to fill and there are players they can afford to not take.

This year, with free-agency still waiting on the “to-do” list, the Cardinals draft will be greatly affected by their needs.

For example, Blaine Gabbert is not the 5th ranked player on their board, I can guarantee you that. However, it is quite likely that the Cardinals will take Gabbert regardless of where they have him ranked because they so desperately need a quarterback.

Not to mention this, and likely the highest rated player on their board, Von Miller, will also likely be gone.

This leaves us with a vast amount of questions. How high do the Cardinals have CB Patrick Peterson ranked? Is he ranked high enough above Gabbert that the Cardinals will ignore their need and snag him up if available? How about Robert Quinn for that matter?

If the Cardinals do take a quarterback in the first round, the rest of the draft will be based solely on need for them, as they will have to fill a lot of holes.

This is the most interesting draft I have witnessed, not because of the talent of the players per say, but because we have no idea where the top 15 players will likely land, and how teams will use the draft to fill their rosters.